Northwest Religion.

Popularity Of Jewish Center Leads To Another Facility

Early Childhood Classes To Be Part Of North Side Location

BUFFALO GROVE — When Beth Dunn moved to Buffalo Grove in 1986, the Northwest Suburban Jewish Community Center's effort to bring Jewish congregations together through children was just 5 years old.

Since then, she has seen the area's Jewish population boom. She gives much of the credit to the JCC.

"The JCC has probably been very instrumental in bringing Jewish growth to our area," said Dunn, temple administrator at Temple Shir Shalom of Buffalo Grove. "It was the first place in the area to offer any kind of Jewish preschool."

Dunn's daughters both attended preschool at the JCC's Jacob Duman Building on the Cook County side of Buffalo Grove and participated in other programs and classes as they got older. Their father joined them in celebrating their Jewish heritage through the center's popular "Me and My Dad" program.

So, it was no surprise for Dunn to learn that the JCC, one of seven Jewish Community Centers throughout the Chicago metropolitan area, was expanding into Lake County to accommodate families who have moved further north.

In fact, her now-grown daughter has applied to teach at the new facility "so that she can give back something to a place that was so beneficial to her," Dunn said.

In August, the JCC will open its 12,000-square-foot Woodland Commons site at Illinois Highway 22 and Buffalo Grove Road in north Buffalo Grove. Organizers plan to offer early childhood classes for children from infancy to 5 years old, as well as enrichment programs for school-age children.

Regular programming will continue at the Jacob Duman Building, the larger of the two facilities. The new site, according to Executive Director Bonnie Greenberg, offers convenience.

"Many young Jewish families are moving further north either because there's cheaper housing, or they want to build and there's just no room here," Greenberg said. "Families were saying that the drive to us was just too far."

The JCC has been scouting sites for five years, and two years ago identified a vacated Sears Hardware store as an ideal location for a second facility. In its new location, the JCC hopes to serve families in an area encompassing Grayslake, Lincolnshire, Long Grove, Mundelein and Vernon Hills.

Greenberg points to the increase in numbers and the growth of area synagogues as evidence the Jewish population has found a stable home in the northwest suburbs, particularly in and around Buffalo Grove.

She is routinely contacted by out-of-state families who plan to move to the area because of its reputation for quality education and a nurturing Jewish environment.

"I get calls all the time from people moving here who tell me they've heard that Buffalo Grove is the place to be," Greenberg said.

While the JCC is particularly known for its early childhood programs, nursery school director Bonnie Davis points out that parents are often as attracted to the center for their own needs as for those of their children. Through parent-child activities and adult classes like mah-jongg and kickboxing, lifelong friendships are made between families.

Additionally, many adults appreciate the opportunity to further their own Jewish education.

"We do educational pieces for the parents too. It may be that they have a background, but want more. Or, they may not have been brought up with any kind of Jewish background, and they want to share in it with their kids," Davis said.

As director of the center's steadily growing nursery school program, Davis is excited to see the Woodland Commons site open next month.

Sunday tours of the new facility will be held from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. beginning Aug. 15 and running until fall programming begins in September.